Front Range
SnowpackAustin DiVesta · Nov 29, 2023 · Front Range
Weather
A cool, east side of the Divide calm day (winds in the 20s) out of the west. Skies were Broken.
Snowpack
Above 10,000ft, I found more snow than expected. Snow heights ranged from 30 to 50cm in places, which is more than I found in other areas. There were still plenty of rocks and downed trees to maneuver around. As I moved around near treeline, I found a mixture of snow ranging from stiff, wind-pressed slabs that supported my weight to weak, faceted snow that I sank to the ground. I noted that easterly-facing slopes all had two small melt-freeze crusts in the snowpack. The upper one (formed the week before Thanksgiving) was very thin, 1 cm thick, and already starting to decompose. The lower one (created early to mid-November) was thicker, around 2-3 cm, and more well-preserved. The pit I dug on an exposed treeline slope faced northeast with a snow height of 66 cm. The upper 44 cm of snowpack comprised a mixture of wind-drifted snow, decomposing crystals/facets, and melt-freeze crusts. The bottom 20 cm were all faceted snow from October. My Extended Column Test did propagate with hard results (ECTP21 @22cm below the early to mid-November melt-freeze crust.